EarPIPE

earPIPE’s “Probably Too Late” Off Sonar 2010 Guide

Monday, June 14th, 2010 | Event Preview | No Comments

All pictures from Resident Advisor

Update – Check out the earPIPE Sonar Disco Map Here.

This weekend Barcelona becomes the centre of attention as Sonar festival rolls into town. The festival itself is a jam packed 3 days and 2 nights of music and art featuring the likes of Plastikman, The Chemical Brothers and Roxy Music. However its not just the festival that garners all the attention, as for the same weekend Barcelona turns into a thriving party city with what are now known as the Off Sonar parties. This year we’re spoilt for choice in terms of party venues. We’ve got parties on beaches, on rooftops, on terraces, on boats and at secret villas. There’s even a few parties happening in them there nightclubs. There’s a lot to pick from so here’s what we think is looking pretty hot for the weekend. › Continue reading

Tags: Ambivalent, anja schneider, Barcelona, Beatport, BeCool, Boris Werner, Boulevard Culture Club, BPitch, BPitch Control, Cesar Merveille, Chaim, Chiringuito Calama, Circus Company, Cocoon, Crosstown Rebels, Damien Lazarus, David Squaillace, Deetron, Desolat, Discotechque Club, DJ Koze, DOP, Dubfire, Dyed Sondorom, Ekkohaus, Ellen Allien, Eric Duncan, Ethyl, Fabrizio Maurizi, Flori, Ghoa Beach Club, Giles Smith, Gui Boratto, Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts, Guy Gerber, Harri and Domenic, Heartthrob, Heidi, Hobo, Hot Natured, Hotel Diagonal, INXEC, James Priestley, Jamie Jones, Jesse Rose, Josh Wink, Kiki, Kompakt, Konrad Black, La Terrazza, Lee Foss, Loco Dice, Luca Bacchetti, Luciano, M.A.N.D.Y, Marco Carola, Martin Buttrich, Martinez, Matt Tolfrey, Matthew Jonson, Matthias Tanzmann, Mephistos, Michael Mayer, Milton Jackson, Minus, mobilee, Moon Harbour, Nitsa, Oleg Pollakov, Onur Ozer, Oshum, Ovum, Pan Pot, Patrice Scott, Pig & Dan, Playkula, Raum, Reboot, Resident Advisor, Ricardo Villalobos, Robert Dietz, Rub N Tug, Sascha Funke, Secretsundaze, Seth Troxler, Sety, Seuil, Shlomi Aber, Shuan Reeves, Steve Bug, Stimming, Sub Club, Superpitcher, The Mole, Thomas Muller, Thomas Schumacher, Tiefschwarz, Troy Pierce, Trus'me, W Barcelona Hotel, Warehoused, Watergate, Wilde

Claude Von Stroke – Fabric 46 | Album Review

Saturday, May 9th, 2009 | Album Review | No Comments

For many Claude Von Stroke divides opinion, there are those that think his wonky sound is the best thing since sliced bread whilst there are those that won’t give him the time of the day due to tracks like Whistler. For me, I sit on the fence like Switzerland. Von Stroke’s music can be a bit dubious at times, but you got to give the man some respect for genre busting sound of Whos Afraid of Detroit. What I do like about Von Stroke though is his whole approach to the scene. It all just seems like a good bit of fun for him which he doesn’t take too seriously at all. And in the process he’s helped create this wonky sound that straddles house and techno, he’s made some fantastic tunes and obviously some which are corny. But in his defence all the corny ones have had their comedic charm. I mean who in their right mind makes a breakbeat remix of Peanut Butter Jelly Time if they’re not dicking around, even his Fabric CD starts with him and his mates just laughing for no real reason.

Thankfully however Von Stroke doesn’t go absurd on the comic front for Fabric 46. Instead it locks into a wonky groove travelling through all sorts of styles with just the right sheen of Von Stroke humour and quirkiness. He gently › Continue reading

Tags: Claude Von Stroke, Deeon, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Fabric, Insomer Transitions, Italoboyz, Joakim, Marc Houle, Robag Wruhme, Stimming, Wighnomy Brothers

EarPipe Has an Even Hazier Look Back at the Music Through 2008

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 | Music, News | 1 Comment

I normally struggle to think what tunes have been and gone in the last month, so trying to remember what I was listening to back in January is a mountainous mission in itself, which is probably why I’m going to write this avoiding any specifics and will talk around the subject pretending I know what I’m talking about like any good politician would do. But from what I can recollect “minimal” became housier (or maybe I became housier?), Dubstep collided with Techno and Disco has undergone a massive revival

So lets start with the shift towards the housier sounds. We noticed a lot of DJs ditching the repetitive and bland “minimal” sounds that were starting to stagnate and instead nudging more towards the house end of the spectrum. This meant a bit more funk and soul embedded into tracks, more vocals and jazzier samples. It may sound like we’re harking back to the funky house days circa 2000-02, but this was slightly different, it was more an amalgamation of what came out of the “minimal-tech” sounds which dominated ’05-’07 with older house music sensibilities as seen from the Chicago deep house days. A perfect example of this is probably My My, their remix of Djuma Soundsytem’s Les Dijnns ’s typifies where the sound was during 2007 whilst their latest release Everybody’s Talkin’ is a glimpse into the house sound doing the rounds at the moment. The same goes for Josh Wink’s Stay Out All Night and Matthew Styles We Said Nothing, both distinctly Chi-town influenced numbers which bebop’s to a fun and funked up skipping rhythm. In a similar vein who could forget Johnny D who’s had a fantastic year. His track Orbitallife was causing raucous everywhere through the summer not to mention all his other releases.

But then it wasn’t all fun funked up house, this year saw a lot of dub style house and techno music with heavy basslines at a relaxed pace. Tracks like Trus’me’s W.A.R Dub particularly stood out as did a lot of the output from Gedde’s new label MurMur which had artists like Bearweasel pumping out deep and hypnotic house. One of the best tracks of the year for me was the highly elusive Wax1001. There was no artist or label, just this white label containing the rawest house track ever. A simple track with clunky beats, classic hi hat patterns and a dark raw bassline made Wax1001 show how less is definitely more.

› Continue reading

Tags: Afefe Iku, Ame, Appleblim, Bearwesel, Disco, Disco Bloodbath, Dixon, Djuma Soundsystem, Dubfire, Dubstep, Fabric, Geddes, Henrik Schwarz, Hercules and Love Affair, Horse Meat Disco, house, Innervisions, Italo Boyz, James Murphy, Johnny D, Josh Wink, Laurent Garnier, LCD Soundsystem, Lindstrom, Metro Area, Minimal, Mulletover, Murmur, My My, Mymy, Osborne, Pat Mahoney, Prins Thomas, Quiet Village, Radioslave, Ricardo Villalobos, Secretsundaze, Shackleton, SiS, Skull Disco, Smalltown Supersound, Stimming, techno, Trus'me, Villalobos, Wax1001